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$VER: AddTools.doc 1.11 (10.8.93) © Alessandro Sala
AddTools version 1.11 10-Aug-1993
Copyright © 1993 By Alessandro Sala
Requires AmigaOS v2.04 ( Kickstart v37 ) or later
------------
Disclaimer
------------
This program is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either
expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranty
of fitness for a particular purpose. Though every care has been taken to
make this program system-friendly and bugs-free, the entire risk as to the
results, reliability and performance of this program is assumed by you.
------------------
Copyright notice
------------------
This program is "FreeWare": it can be freely copied and distributed for
non-commercial purposes, provided that no file is added to or removed from the
distribution archive and no charge, beside a nominal media cost, is requested.
Nevertheless the program remains COPYRIGHT of the Author: you cannot
patch, reverse engineer or otherwise modify the program, the documentation and
every other file found in the distribution archive.
Compressing in executable form is only allowed for personal use, not
when the program is being distributed: LHARC'ing in an archival form is
explicitly allowed for distribution convenience.
Furthermore you cannot embed the program in any other software without
the written permission of the author.
------------------------------------
Contents of the distribution archive
------------------------------------
AddTools : The main program
AddToolsData : Configuration file example
AddToolsDoc-E : English documentation
Catalogs : Drawer
AddTools.ct : Empty translation file
italiano : Drawer
AddTools.catalog : Italian language support file
MTCopy : Example of AmigaDos script for use with AddTools
AddTools.info \
AddToolsData.info |
AddToolsDoc-E.info | : Related icons
Catalogs.info |
AddTools.ct.info |
MTCopy.info /
1. Introduction
---------------
AddTools is a very simple utility, written mainly to experiment with the
new applications menu ( "Tools" ) of AmigaOS release 2, but I found it very
useful so I decided to release it as Freeware with the hope that someone
else will find it convenient.
The program allows you to add your own items to the "Tools" menu of
AmigaOS_2.04's Workbench Screen. Unlike other menu utilities, which only add
the ability to run programs by menu, AddTools can also pass them some
parameters on "the fly" in the form of icons ( from now on called " icon
parameters" ), selected before choosing the desired menu item. You can also
provide default values if no icons are selected, and you can decide if the
the program must be run in either synchronous or asynchronous mode when
multiple icon parameters are selected.
--------------------------
Changes since version 1.00
--------------------------
If you already know AddTools, here are some major differences from the
previous version:
-- The limit of 10 menu items has been removed.
-- Using synchronous items no longer locks AddTools until all parameters have
been processed. Now there is an independent task handling synchronous items.
-- Now supports localization if you have OS 2.1 or later; currently
supported languages are:
English (built-in)
Italian
To use a language different from english you need the 'AddTools.catalog'
file for that language in your 'SYS:Locale/catalogs/<language>/' directory
or in 'catalogs/<language>/' inside AddTools directory.
-- If you choose an item with less than 2 icons selected ( that is 1 or
none ) it will now run in asynchronous mode regardless of the sync/async
flag.
-- There is now a new menu item, named 'AddTools...', which is
automatically added at the end of user items. Selecting 'AddTools...' you
will see a requester asking you if you want to quit the program.
-- Fixed a bug in icon parameters handling code: if an item had default
parameters inside the '[]', the command line after the ']' was ignored: now
it's ok.
-- Now supports multiple '[<default_params>]' strings in a single command
line.
------------
Installation
------------
To install AddTools you can simply copy it in some drawer, typically
your SYS:WBStartup drawer. Then create the configuration file AddToolsData, as
explained below, and put it in your S: volume ( normally the SYS:S drawer ) or
in the same directory as AddTools. If you have OS 2.1 or later and you want to
take advantage of the localization, you must also copy the 'catalogs' drawer,
found in the AddTools distribution archive, into the same drawer as AddTools,
or you can copy the 'AddTools.catalog' file ( found in the 'catalogs/<language>/'
drawer ) into your 'LOCALE:catalogs/<language>/' drawer.
If your language is not currently available, you can fill in the empty
translation file found in the catalogs drawer ( catalogs/AddTools.ct ) and
send it to me by E-Mail ( the address is at the end of this file ). I will
create a new '<your-language>/AddTools.catalog' file and E-Mail it to you as
soon as possible, and the next version of AddTools will support one more
language !
2. Configuration and usage
--------------------------
-2.1- The configuration file
AddTools can be started from workbench by double-clicking its icon or by
placing it in your WBStartup drawer to have it activated every time you
boot; in this case remember to add the "DONOTWAIT" ToolType.
You can also run AddTools from a CLI or from your user-startup; in this
case use the RUN command to start AddTools in the background.
When AddTools is started, it looks in the current directory to see if a
configuration file named "AddToolsData" exists: if not, it then searches
in the S: volume (typically your SYS:S drawer) and aborts if it doesn't find
there the configuration file.
The "AddToolsData" file contains the description of the various menu items
you want to add to the Tools menu. Every item is defined by three lines with
the following format:
<Line 1> Menu_item_text
<Line 2> Menu_item_associated_command_line_with_parameters
<Line 3> Synchronous/Asynchronous_mode_flag
these three lines are repeated for every menu item you want to add. Here
comes an explanation of every line:
Line 1 : Menu item text : This is the text you want to be displayed in
the tools menu: note that shortcuts are not
available at the moment.
Line 2 : Command line : This will normally be the complete path and
name of the program you want to be run when
choosing this menu item, possibly followed by
parameters. If you want to pass this program
possible icons as parameters you must include
a special char sequence in the command line, as
explained below.
Line 3 : Sync/Async : This will be either an "A" or an "S" char to
indicate A)synchronous or S)ynchronous execution
mode (see below).
In the distribution archive you can find an example of the 'AddToolsData'
configuration file.
-2.2- Synchronous vs. Asynchronous mode
If, in the third line of a menu item definition, you s